FAQ

Help & FAQs

General FAQs

Before payment:
You can cancel your order by going to your shopping cart en click on ‘Remove from cart’ next to the item you have ordered. You can also empty the whole shopping cart at once at the bottom of the page by clicking on ‘Empty cart’. Or simply use the back button in your browser.

After payment:
Please send an e-mail to info@pentatonemusic.com with your request a.s.a.p. and we will do our best to action it before your order goes to our warehouse. Do not forget to provide us with your order number, the item you want to cancel and your banking details. We are not able to cancel your order once it has been processed.

The shopping cart is where all your purchases are listed prior to you confirming that you wish to send an order to PENTATONE. Products can be added to and removed from your shopping cart prior to you committing to purchase them. The contents of your shopping cart can be viewed at the top of each page by clicking on ‘CART’.

To use a PENTATONE promotional code or voucher select your purchase(s) and add them to the shopping cart. Then choose your payment method and fill in the voucher code. Now click on the button ‘ADD DISCOUNT’. Your order will be recalculated taking into consideration the value of the voucher. A revised total will be displayed. Proceed with your order. You will have to agree to our terms and conditions and please do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you will never miss out on anything new at PENTATONE’s.
Click the button ‘ORDER NOW’ and the system will guide you through the payment procedure. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with all your order details. Thank you for ordering at pentatonemusic.com!

Physical CD:
Every item on our website should always be in stock. Our warehouse is located in the Netherlands and depending on where you live your order should reach you in approximately a week. You will receive an e-mail when your order has left our warehouse.
If by way of exception an item of your order is not in stock, it will reach you within approximately a month. We will inform you by e-mail about the delay.

Downloads:
Your download is available after your payment is confirmed. You can view your download credits at ‘MY ACCOUNT’. A confirmation e-mail of your order will be sent to your e-mail address.
All digital downloads sales are final and non-refundable.

You will receive an email to confirm when your order has left our warehouse. Please wait until the expected delivery time from our Dutch warehouse has elapsed. After this time, first check if maybe your local post office is holding the package for you. If they return the package to us because you did not pick it up at the post office, you will have to pay the delivery costs again to have it resent.
After following this procedure, please contact us at info@pentatonemusic.com.

If we receive the cd back in the condition that it was sent within 30 days, we will be happy to give you a credit voucher to spend at our webshop. Please contact us at info@pentatonemusic.com before returning the item. Do not forget to mention your name, order number and explanation.

If you have forgotten your password, do not worry. You can reset your password by clicking on the ‘Login’ button at the top of the page where you will be prompted for your e-mail address and password. Then click on the ‘Forgotten Password’ link and enter your email address in the box provided. We will then email you a new password.

Buying SA-CD

Browse through the different sections of the PENTATONE website looking at the products available. You can also directly search in the sections CATALOG and ARTISTS, or just easily type in a keyword at the search engine on top of the website. When you see something you want to buy, click on that cd image.
Click on the button ‘ADD TO CART’. If you want to order more, choose ‘CONTINUE SHOPPING’ on the left side of your screen. When you are finished choose ‘proceed to checkout’ on the right side of your screen.

Are you a new customer? Register and fill in the requested information.
Are you a frequent customer? Login with your e-mail address and password.

Choose your payment method and if you have a discount voucher, fill in the code here and click on the button ‘ADD DISCOUNT’. Your order will be recalculated taking into consideration the value of the voucher. A revised total will be displayed. Proceed with your order.

You will have to agree to our terms and conditions and please do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you will never miss out on anything new at PENTATONE’s.

Click the button ‘ORDER NOW’ and the system will guide you through the payment procedure. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with all your order details. Thank you for ordering at pentatonemusic.com!

Pre-orders allow you to purchase cd’s at a date before the actual date of release of that cd. You place the order in the same way as you would order anything else from the website. The date of release will be located on the page of the cd. Please note, release dates can change. We will send you the cd immediately once it is available in our warehouse.

Downloading SA-CD

Browse through the different sections of the PENTATONE website looking at the products available. You can also directly search in the sections CATALOG and ARTISTS, or just easily type in a keyword at the search engine on top of the website. When you see something you want to buy, click on that cd image.

Click on the button ‘DOWNLOAD CD’. You can choose between HIGH QUALITY, MEDIUM QUALITY and MASTER QUALITY. Do you need some assistance? Simply click on the button underneath and watch the short introduction video we have made for you. After making your choice simply click on the right type of file to order.

Are you a new customer? Register and fill in the requested information.
Are you a frequent customer? Login with your e-mail address and password.

Choose your payment method and if you have a discount voucher, fill in the code here and click on the button ‘ADD DISCOUNT’. Your order will be recalculated taking into consideration the value of the voucher. A revised total will be displayed. Proceed with your order.

You will have to agree to our terms and conditions and please do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you will never miss out on anything new at PENTATONE’s.

Click the button ‘ORDER NOW’ and the system will guide you through the payment procedure. You will receive a confirmation e-mail with all your order details. At PENTATONE your downloads are available three times. Simply click on ‘MY ACCOUNT’ at the top right of your screen and there you will find them. Thank you for ordering at pentatonemusic.com!

Pre-orders allow you to purchase cd’s at a date before the actual date of release of that cd. You place the order in the same way as you would order anything else from the website. The date of release will be located on the page of the cd. Please note, release dates can change. We will send you the cd immediately once it is available in our warehouse.

Billing & Accounts

If you have a query about payment please contact us by sending an e-mail to info@pentatonemusic.com . We accept all major credit and debit cards along with PayPal. All the available payment methods for your country will be displayed when you get to the payment page.

Security

PENTATONE will never e-mail you asking you for your password, security PIN from you bank- or credit card or any other bank account details. If you receive an e-mail like this, do not respond or react and contact your e-mail provider.
It is safe to use our website. Any transaction you make is both private and protected. Any screen containing your personal details, passwords or payment details is delivered using 128 bit secure socket layer encryption.
If you want more information about shopping safe online, please visit http://www.getsafeonline.org

Pentatone Club

Technical FAQs

Data is compressed by a factor of 3. This saves upload/download time plus server space, and the compression is lossless. Data download for DSD.iso is almost the same size as a DSD stereo file in DFF.

One file per CD program avoids digital clicks at the beginning and end of the DSD tracks.

Gapless playback. Most players pause for a second when a track change occurs. This is a problem for most hardware and software players, but with DSD.iso it is no longer an issue. This is very important when CD tracks start in the middle of the music, e.g. in the middle of operas or other compositions where one movement runs into the next movement without a pause. The running order of a CD is also fixed and cannot be accidentally changed.

Includes all metadata. Metadata is very important for the labels and cannot be embedded in the DFF files, but can only be added as an ID3v2 attachment. DSF is an option, but this only works with one file per CD track.

No processing or conversion is required from the original DSD master to the downloaded master, therefore retaining the best possible audio quality.

Multiple software media players (and some hardware players) are available that can handle and play DSD.iso files.

Freeware - free (media player) software - is available for unpacking DSD.iso files. In this way every customer is able to extract the most convenient file format for his or her individual needs. This could be DFF (one file per album), DFF (one file per track) or DSF (always one file per track, and including metadata).

We always use the original masters to produce the SACD versions and the CD layer. Nothing is changed in order to retain the best possible quality. The HIGH quality download is in effect identical to the CD master as used on the CD layer of the SACD disk.

For the PREMIUM quality files we use the Weiss Saracon as a sample rate converter, considered the best converter available, to convert from DSD to 96kHz 24-bit stereo and surround. The 96kHz versions are converted to FLAC files to reduce server space and download time. This is a lossless process. When all files are available they are packed with extra metadata and MP3 files in a .ZIP folder.

PENTATONE offers DSD.iso files for download. In this ISO file the stereo as well as the MCH files are included. DSD.iso files reduce download time up to a factor of 3, and include metadata. The zip file including the ISO files also includes the cover and booklet in JPEG and PDF. DSD.iso files can be played or even converted to DFF or DSF files using several media players like JRiver and foobar2000. A software tool to extract the DFF or DSF files from the .ISO file can be found at www.sonore.us

Unzip the zip file at the route of your hard drive (C:) with an appropriate program, e.g. WinRAR or WinZip. If your zip file looks like this: .zip--, save the file and rename it to .zip (ignore the warning that your file may get damaged)

PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analogue signals. It is the standard format of digital audio on CDs. In a PCM stream, the amplitude of the analogue signal is sampled regularly at uniform intervals and each sample is quantized to the nearest value within a range of digital steps.
SACD audio is stored in a format called DSD (Direct Stream Digital), which differs from the conventional PCM. DSD is 1-bit, has a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz and makes use of noise shaping quantization techniques in order to push 1-bit quantization noise up to inaudible ultrasonic frequencies. This gives the format a greater dynamic range and wider frequency response than the CD. The SACD format is capable of delivering a dynamic range of 120 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz and an extended frequency response up to 100 kHz.

Technical FAQs part 2

The stereo 44.1kH 16-bit file (WAV) is a standard CD quality download. It is ideal for headphone use, and it offers stereo in a far better quality than the usual MP3 downloads. WAV can be played on an iPod and other portable players, and all Windows and Apple computers. These files can be easily burned onto a CD.
The stereo 96kHz 24-bit FLAC file is a premium quality stereo download with better resolution and frequency range than the CD quality. This version offers perfect stereo quality for a stereo living room sound set-up. Almost every modern computer is capable of playing these files. For extra quality, external DA (digital to analogue) converters may be used. These are connected to the computer by USB, Firewire, or another connection.
The MCH 96kHz 24-bit FLAC file is a premium quality download that enables the listener to leave the living room sound set-up behind and enter the concert hall. MCH surround sound makes it possible to virtually sit in the concert hall and enjoy optimal music and acoustics. To play this music, 5.1 surround sound output is required on your computer, meaning six independent channels. A surround sound receiver with five speakers gives you an optimal experience. In the ideal situation an external DA is used, connected using USB, Firewire or a network connection to the computer, passing the signal directly through to the receiver.
The DSD.iso file offers the music lover the opportunity to enjoy the ultimate master quality as recorded in the studio. This file contains both the stereo and the MCH surround sound versions in DSD master quality, the highest audio quality available! The MCH surround sound in DSD is a pure reproduction of the concert itself, with the original acoustics. Now nothing stands in the way of the musical message and sonic beauty of the actual performance! To play these files, special software and hardware is required. Several media players are able to play these DSD files via USB or Firewire connections to external DA converters, both in stereo and MCH surround sound.

Unzip the zip file at the route of your hard drive (C:) with an appropriate program, e.g. WinRAR or WinZip. If your zip file looks like this: .zip--, first save the file and rename it to .zip (ignore the warning that your file may get damaged)

Unzip the zip file at the route of your hard drive (C:) with an appropriate program, e.g. WinRAR or WinZip. If your zip file looks like this: .zip--, first save the file and rename it to .zip (ignore the warning that your file may get damaged). Then unpack it.